Zuckerberg will demo the Jarvis-like AI that is now running things at his place, next month

Well, people sometimes compare Elon Musk to Tony Stark. It however, is actually Mark Zuckerberg who will soon be proudly demoing his very own Jarvis — or at least something like it. While speaking to an audience at a Townhall Q&A session in Rome, the Facebook CEO announced that he may actually have a demo for the home-controlling, work-assisting AI, that is his own personal project.

Many of us felt a substantial amount of awe and envy when Mark Zuckerberg announced that he was working upon an artificial intelligence project in his spare time. The AI is purely personal and is one of Zuckerberg’s pet projects. Indeed, he is actually starting off by deploying it in his own home.

While nowhere near as powerful as the Jarvis shown in the Iron Man series — who was virtually infallible and could do anything — the Zuckerberg AI is pretty impressive. From letting the Facebook CEO in when he is at the gates simply by recognizing his face, to controlling the temperatures and the lighting around the place, it has made Mark, the sole master of his house — for now at least.

Speaking on the topic at the Townhall, the Facebook CEO said,

I got it to this point where now I can control the lights, I can control the gates, I can control the temperature — much to the chagrin of my wife, who now cannot control the temperature because it is programmed to only listen to my voice

Well, better not test the patience of his better half. Now, many of the things that Zuckerberg mentioned this AI can do, can also be performed by a variety of devices available in the markets today, such as the $129 priced Amazon Echo. However, these devices require to be connected to the web and it’s a bit far-fetched to assume that Zuckerberg was spending all this time building an Echo.

The concept of integrating an AI into a full-fledged home certainly adds to the interest. And let’s not forget that Zuckerberg also mentioned back in January that the AI will be able to assist him in his work. What will that entail? Will it somehow hand him a pen when the Facebook CEO asks for it or solve complex calculations in a twinkling?

Zuckerberg has always said that he believes AI to be capable of outperforming humans within a decade. And we are not talking about mathematical calculations here either. Stuff like seeing, hearing, language that used to be the sole domain of humans now have a new player. Meanwhile, there are some who think that the Facebook CEO’s new project may just be a prelude to the smart homes of the future.

Imagine a place where you can just shout to get the coffee machine brew you something hot. Or a world without switches or remotes, where your presence and voice alone is enough to power things up and down. We are already slowly getting there, however the Facebook CEO’s personal project is the first, highly publicized and large scale implementation of what may be common to most houses someday in the future.

For now though, let’s wait for the next month to check out the progress made by Mark Zuckerberg. In the meanwhile, any guesses for its capabilities and its name? I am personally rooting for JARVIS, but then that is just me.